Institutional accreditation has served higher education and the public interest well for more than a century, but now its purposes are changing quickly and dramatically. Accreditation began as a voluntary, nongovernmental peer review process internally managed by colleges and universities to determine if schools met threshold tests of academic…

The end of a decade and the start of a new century provide an opportunity to review how higher education has changed and to assess the implications of these developments for the future. This report focuses on six higher education developments from the recent past: (1) the link between postsecondary education and individual well-being grows…

A proposed change in federal student loan policy from providing loans through lending institutions to providing loans directly to students is of enormous importance to higher education, with major implications for colleges and universities. There are powerful arguments pro and con. Institutions must ensure they and policymakers understand the…

Congress is considering major changes in federal student aid programs that, if approved, would result in the largest increase in the cost of college in the nation's history. Colleges and universities must now consider how reduced federal student aid would affect their enrollment, and make federal policymakers understand the potential impact of…

The three basic kinds of federal student financial aid to college students are described: federal student loans (direct lending, both subsidized and unsubsidized); campus-based aid (Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, work-study programs, and Perkins Loans); and Pell Grants. Some details of program design and recent changes are noted.…

An American Council on Education study reveals a substantial gap between what the public knows about higher education costs and financial aid and what Americans need to know to make sensible decisions and set sound public policy. This lack of knowledge creates anxiety, corrodes perceptions of higher education, leads to poor educational choices,…

Discusses the expansion of the federal government's role in American society; focuses on changing federal and state responsibilities in education. (Author/GC)

A discussion of the current cost and financing of higher education looks at how higher education has been treated in federal policy in recent years, its status in public policy in the near future, including some salient uncertainties, and college cost and student debt. Emphasis is given to trends in the cost of professional education. (MSE)

Analyzes the issues and implications in the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1998, including the framework of federal student aid it establishes, the reduced federal influence on academic affairs and accreditation, increased regulatory flexibility and reduced administrative burden on institutions, and increased eligibility of distance-education…

College trustees should be aware of the latest round of federal regulations because they threaten to impose unprecedented government control on colleges and universities. Some regulations signal an expansion of the federal role into a broader effort to improve and monitor quality in higher education. (Author/MSE)

Thirty years of federal student aid have increased the chances that low-income individuals will go to college, but the gap in college attendance between low- and high-income families has not changed much. Academic underpreparation among low-income groups, more federal student aid for the middle class, and rising tuition at state institutions…

The Republican proposal to cut the federal student loan program is examined, and some of the other challenges and changes likely to be faced by higher education due to Republican politics are outlined, including appropriations for discretionary programs, welfare and immigration reform, social and economic policy issues affecting the middle class,…